The present invention relates to an improved automatic device for washing a toilet seat ring.
There are public restrooms, constituted by an enclosed space of limited size inside which the toilet is accommodated, which are provided with a system for the complete automatic washing of the entire lavatory after each use thereof.
These lavatories have a considerably complicated structure, which it must be possible to seal completely during washing, and have disadvantageously high manufacturing costs.
Toilets are also known which have a device that, after every use thereof, replaces the used seat ring with another clean and disinfected one.
This last device, in addition to being bulky and expensive, must be combined with another device for washing the used seat rings.
A toilet is also known in which the ring is covered with a tubular film; after each use of the toilet, a mechanism makes the film slide so that a new section thereof covers the ring.
However, this toilet does not ensure perfect hygiene of the ring, since the film can be affected by damage that hinders its correct sliding and prevents complete covering of the ring.
As an alternative, in order to obviate the above cited drawbacks, devices are known which after each use of the toilet automatically wash and disinfect its seat ring.
These known devices comprise a lid for closing the toilet that is divided into two parts; a lower part, which is fixed to the rim of the toilet bowl and on the inner surface of which the ring rests, and an upper part, which is superimposed hermetically on the lower part and can be lifted angularly with respect to it.
In the upper part of the lid there are channels which have, in a downward region, vertical holes which are initially fed with a disinfectant liquid to wash the ring and are then fed with hot air to dry the washed ring.
After each use of the toilet, the upper part is lowered automatically to perform the washing and drying cycle and then raised at the end of said cycle.
However, even these known devices for automatic washing and disinfection of the toilet seat ring are not free from drawbacks, including the fact that the dispensing of the disinfectant liquid on the part of the vertical holes, which spray said liquid from above onto the ring at right angles thereto, does not allow complete and effective washing of said ring.
Another disadvantage is the fact that the use of the same channels and of the same holes for the alternating dispensing of the disinfectant liquid and of the hot air, due to the residues of liquid that remain inevitably therein, does not allow to dry the ring completely, giving the next user the impression that the ring is not clean or producing, upon contact therewith, an unpleasant feeling of wetness and stickiness.
Another disadvantage of known devices is the fact that they do not allow to wash accurately the area to the rear of the ring, whereat dead zones remain which are not reached by the disinfectant liquid and act as seats of accumulation of dirt and deposits.
Finally, another drawback of known devices is the fact that they require the design and installation of a circuit for the alternating supply of disinfectant liquid and hot air that is structurally and constructively very complicated.
The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the above noted drawbacks of known devices for automatically washing and disinfecting a toilet seat ring, by providing an improved automatic device for washing a toilet seat ring that allows to optimize both the washing and the drying of the seat ring, to clean completely the dead zones as well, and to simplify the structure and construction of the circuit for feeding the disinfectant liquid and the drying air, improving the efficiency, assembly and maintenance thereof.
Within this technical aim, an object of the present invention is to achieve the above aim with a structure that is simple, relatively easy to provide in practice, safe in use, effective in operation, and relatively modest in cost.
This aim and this object are achieved by the present improved automatic device for washing a toilet seat ring, comprising a lid that is divided into two parts, namely a lower part, which is suitable to be fixed to the upper rim of the toilet bowl and on the inner surface of which the toilet seat ring rests, and an upper part, which is suitable to be superimposed hermetically on said lower part and can be lifted angularly with respect to it, characterized in that said upper part comprises a box-like structure on the bottom of which there are exit holes for a fluid for washing the toilet seat ring and there are exit openings for air for drying the washed ring, said upper part having means for feeding the washing fluid to said holes and means for feeding the air to said openings.